Hi Dave,
I shoot manual also and it seems like the focal settings are all off for me.
I tried them with zone today and the focus wasn't locking in anywhere near where I wanted it to be.
I have used the one point AF, but I do find that it's difficult to line that focal point up with the head of a bird in flight. I then went to the expand around area because that was easier to line up.
*****Is it possible to go with the expand around af area button, or no?
If I select your single point, and animals of course, along with servo AF, and discontinue "continuous AF" (seems counterintuitive, but ok I'll do this), then the eye detection is disabled. Don't we want eye detection enabled? It won't allow me to select that option with the single point AF. Or having the back button set to eye will do the trick?
***** You said on the "Red Menu Customize buttons I select no change on the shutter button as described previously." I'm not sure what I'm suppose or not supposed. to do here??
*****Did you make any adjustments to your Case settings (Purple AF area section 3).... Do you have yours on Case 1 still?
*****Presumably if these settings will work well for a bird in flight, then obviously it will suffice for a deer in the yard, or a lion in Africa? How about an orca whale where it won't be able to track it's eye???? That's where it's difficult to toggle the joystick super tiny button and hope it lines up with where an orca breaches and what not.... I've got less than 1 second to toggle the square around.... Just rely on my shutter speed???
*****What's a gal to do in this scenario?
Lastly, I'm a bit old fashioned too. I'm used to adjusting my ISO, aperture and shutter speed and I'm off to the races. All of these special settings are throwing me off. I was the only one able to capture a bald eagle taking out a turkey vulture today, however the images aren't nearly as sharp as I'm accustomed to.
So far I've been fairly disappointed with this camera / lens set up. I know you all rave about them, but I'm hoping with making these adjustments that I'll see a great improvement. I'm ready to put both on the market, but I'm trying to hang in there. 95% of my photos were not crisp at all today....Such a BUMMER!!!!!
Thanks again,
Nancy
As I stated previously, there are many ways to set up your camera. No right or wrong ways, just ones that work for yourself.
The ones I use have been a personal huge leap forward. I agree, trying to put a single point on a moving bird is nigh on impossible unless it's a slow moving Heron or similar. Now I don't worry about the AF point I let the camera do that and I just worry about the composition and trying to keep the subject in the frame.
I have tried Jake's settings that he's suggested and it makes little difference in many scenarios but to me is less effective when I want to use the single point to go where I want it not where the camera chooses. That's when I use the shutter button and joystick.
The biggest single difference though is customising your buttons to work the way you want them to and Jake makes no mention of how he's set up his. The default setting for the camera is that the shutter button is set to start metering and auto focus at a half press and take a shot when fully depressed. I leave that as it is. I know people are still using what I see as a waste by disabling the shutter button to meter and AF but it never worked for me until I bought the R5 because then they have introduced eye detect.
Just try one thing! :-
Use your red menu and enable the Af-on ( or any button you choose but it's probably the best placed one) to the eye AF as described by me previously. That is the hallelujah moment when the camera searches and tries or finds the eye. Doesn't matter if you have set single point or expanded point it is no more, no less accurate with either it seems to me. If it can't find an eye it usually comes close so a moving bird will be picked up and the AF locks on for as long as you hold your back button down. Press the shutter button and it takes shots for as long as you hold it down but the eye is still being tracked.
I know lots of people don't like DPP but I use it to decide which shots to keep and which to drop in to the bin. In the quick check setting you can enable the AF point to see where it actually hit. Example below using my settings. It's not always on the eye but if you have sufficient DOF all is fine.
Will it track a Lion in Africa....I'll let you know in a few weeks time! I imagine it will, it works a treat on a domestic pet.
An Orca? It may well struggle with the eye , as it may well with Dolphins of any sort as there is a lot of reflection from the water but if there is sufficient contrast it should find the beast!
I hope you find my suggestions useful in your search to get the R5 working as you'd like. I hate to see anyone struggle when mine works so well for me. If someone else's settings suit you better that's great, just as long as you are happy!
PS I tend to use Case settings 1-3. For these Puffins it was continue to track ignoring obstacles which it did even when the Puffin landed at the back of a group and was largely hidden. Case 2. The Puffins were suddenly appearing over the top of a rise and I had a couple of seconds to grab the shots as they came down at a fair speed to join the group.
PPS Single point is the quickest way I find to put the target in the same distance zone you want to search in. I often have to focus on a nearby bigger object before starting to search for a small bird in a bush
